Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-01-06
HUNEENG THE COON
q SpjSs1S3irring Sport chat Is Out
of Fashion
SIls9 Fw@ Sorts of Dog That Used to no
Hroe in Few Jersey-1Eminent Men.
TbC Followed che
Chase

SYAaS Ehis country needs Is sportsraen
9th lass affecsation and moro snap.
Hunters go from New Jersey 60 the
6arrsn hills of Pennsylvania forty miles
az moe avgays and stand all day on
, gind-swept runways waiting for n
ghOt aS the deer shat never comes or
9famp from morning till night through
91wanipy swails and brambly thickets
hunting the pheasant that fails to rise,
while Il sport that famous men loved
and elevated and grew enthusiastic
over years ago, and from which no
Aunter can Eeturn without pleasure and
profit, goes begging on every side of
rs. The manr1er in which the oppor-
&unities offered by the hills andavalleys
ogNorthern New jersey for the rarest
of sport are neglected is enough to
make the bones of the dead and gone
lovers og the star-lit chase turn and
CATTLE in theie graves. The star-lit
chase 90 which j refer was the coon
AunG, rs which confession doubtless,
every owner oG . cake-fed setter and Il
1undred-and-f fty-GOllar breech-loading
1hotgun grou Tri-States Rock to Pahag-
Gary Flats, will raise shout Of derision
loud enough 20 scare every coon in
4@ussex County ineo winter quarters six
Beeks before his Eime. But why the
9oon hunt has fallen into such q dis
Gepute with Che present generation of
9portsmens and why che; ring-tailed
and cunning denizen Of the hills and
&oHows himself has come 60 be despised
NV tha,, no ca.+ I7Au-fN II, eh, lict
ofBhoae 6hings which no fellow can find
@at.
Why Che coon ahonYd be SO despised
89 our sporssMen of to-day 10 q mys-
Gery. BE is as cunning as the fox and
more dificuls 20. end. He should not
De despiseds surely because ne can be
4unsed only rs night, for i'll threading
Che WOODS In the darkness, following
dogS Shat you can not see, and whose
Saying alone breaks che stiffness, there
O. n 0nost singular enchantment Or,
rather5 Ghere was such an enchantmentV
@pr Che baying o. che dogs is heard no
eNore, nos simply because the genuine
5000 Aun3 og oue fathers is Q lost
arl5 but because tho coon dog of
Our fathers Is a species Of animal
that mag gruly be sRid 20 have be
Some extinct. de was % no particular
strain &c blood, as Z remember him,
but he united the keen scent of the
leerhound with the intelligence of the
shepherd dog, and the tenacity of the
bulldog with the stealth q the panther.
With fewer accomplishments than these
he could have well been fully equipped
for the fox or 6eer Grail; the losing
herd would have been safe in his keep
ing; he could have held his own in a
contest in the pit, or he could have
made himself a conspicuous object in
any community as highly successful
forager on sheep pastures-but he
never could have been coon dog. To
Be that he needed not only scent but
knowledge; not only tenacity but willy
ness. For your coon is cute and
aricky customer. He is crammed to the
gnuzzle with patience. He is wonder
full in strategy, and Il tactician peerless.
Moreover. his trail is as cold as ice on n
@Findow pane, and almost rs scentless as
Il SNOWFALL. He leads through tangled
swamps and deep, stony hollows. Gle
CROSSES and recroSseSe sWift-running
streams. 2fe frisks around the tops of
@ough stone walls as silent and swift
as shadow. Hossoops @Iithin dozen
qeet of some convenient tree. clears the
Intervening spaces with . single bound,
strikes the stem OF the tree five or six
feet fromethe ground, glides up to the
longest branch, runs to its very ex-
tremity, and leaps Dozen feet beyond
it to the ground again, thus breaking
his trail abruptly on one side and be-
ginning it rs confusingly abrupt on tie
D other. He invG@ts tactics for emergen-
cies, and brings to every consideration
for his welfare and that of his family a
large and uniformly level head. To
match the cunning, the skill an@ the
almost human reasoning of this alert
little prowler, in scientific and sports
manlike Way, the old time coon dog
came to the front, and the frigidity of
the evening had to be exceedingly I'M
comfortable when he failed to hold as
many trump cards as the willy schemer
he was after
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